Barbara A. Walker

Searsport, Maine - Barbara Ann "Fritzie" Walker passed away peacefully at home on January 12, 2026, surrounded by beloved family. In formal calculation, she was 97 years old, but in spirit she was a treasure of youthful energy, endless curiosity, boundless kindness, and abundant joy. She made friends wherever she went and kept them for life. She was a sparkling conversationalist, an attentive and sympathetic listener, a loyal correspondent, and a devoted mother, grandmother, and great- grandmother.

As a child, her father lovingly referred to her as "little Barbara Frietchie," after the heroine in the John Greenleaf Whittier poem of the same name. When her older sister, Elizabeth Jane, pronounced Frietchie as "Fritzie," the nickname stuck and she carried it with her for life.

Born May 3, 1928, and raised in Ludlow, Massachusetts, she was nurtured by her parents, Paul and Anna, siblings, Elizabeth Jane and Robert, and extended family of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. The Fourth of July gatherings under the big maple tree on Chapin Street in Ludlow were an annual tradition that brought the family together, as were summers in Searsport, Maine, at a historic family home. These traditions are carried on by younger generations on the shore in Searsport, Maine.

Fritzie excelled in high school and received a scholarship to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she was one of 100 women in the freshman class. They were joined by 1,000 male students, most of whom were veterans returning from World War II on the GI Bill. In the fall of 1946, she caught a ride with a couple of classmates to a college friend's home for the weekend. This chance encounter with a fellow freshman, John Walker from Lynn, Massachusetts, a Navy veteran, who gave her and her friend, Jackie Van Blarcum, a ride, blossomed into a romance that lasted for decades.

At the university, she pledged Chi Omega sorority. She remained close friends with her pledge class "sisters," sharing a round robin letter of each one's news for over seventy years and taking annual trips around the country with them. She was the last of the class to pass away, and we know the reunion of the pledge class of '46 is sweet and raucous.

She graduated in 1950 with a bachelor's degree in bacteriology, now referred to as microbiology. Following graduation, she worked as a scientist in a lab for the city of Worcester, Massachusetts. She and John were married in October 1950, honeymooned in Maine, and then celebrated the birth of their first daughter, Robin, a year later. Thereafter, she dedicated herself to being the best mother, homemaker, and supporter of John's career that she could be. That career took them to Boston, Baltimore, Oklahoma City, Seattle, Sacramento, and back to Oklahoma City. At each new place, she made friends, became involved in the community, and shared her zest for life with family and friends. Two more daughters, Laurie and Dana, were born during the family's first stay in Oklahoma City.

Raised a Methodist, she was confirmed at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Oklahoma City in 1955. Thereafter, her Episcopal faith centered her life. She taught Sunday school, served on the altar guild, and was a faithful member of the women's organization at her churches in Sacramento, California; Edmond, Oklahoma; and Belfast, Maine. She loved volunteering at the food cupboard with her fellow parishioners of St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Belfast.

While living in Oklahoma City, she served as a docent for the Oklahoma City Zoo. She took the "Zoomobile" to local schools to introduce a chinchilla, parrots, a tortoise, and her favorite animal, "Julius Squeezer" the boa constrictor, to elementary school children. This volunteer activity included authoring much of the Docent Handbook for the zoo and sparked her interest in seeing animals in their native habitat. With her dear friend, Helen Bondurant, she traveled on safari many times to South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, and Tanzania. A highlight of her life was sharing a Kenyan safari with her daughters and two eldest granddaughters in 2000. Her birding life list spans many pages. She also orchestrated a memory-filled canal boat trip in England with her brother, sister-in-law, and sister in recent years.

Despite being unexpectedly widowed in 1992, she fulfilled the lifelong dream she and John had of building a home on her family's property in Searsport, Maine. She delighted in working with her builder, Mike Lewis, and garden expert, Kate Mcleod, to construct a house and grounds that facilitated her interest in the natural world. From there, she could watch ships, birds, wildlife, and flowers to her heart's content. She cherished her close relationship with her neighbor, Rainey Jackson.

Once she moved to Maine, she threw herself into creating a new life by volunteering at the Carver Memorial Library, joining a rug hooking group, and collaborating with kindred spirits Edith Johnson and Fran Haas on handicrafts and travel to the United Kingdom. A special joy for Fritzie was reading the Wall Street Journal book review each Saturday and then finding and reading the noted books at the Carver Memorial Library, where she processed the new books for more than 30 years.

She will be remembered for her intelligence, kindness, love of family, good humor, open mindedness, optimism, hope, sense of awe and wonder in the world, affinity for chocolate and coffee ice cream, knowledge of how to make a proper pot of tea, and passing on her hand craft hobbies to granddaughters. She was a sought-after team member for Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, or any game that required knowledge of language, history, science, or current events. She was passionate about genealogy and traced her family roots and those of husband John back through the 1600s.

She will be forever loved and celebrated by three daughters, Robin Eloise Duncan of Capitola, California, Laurie Walker Jones of Prospect, Maine, and Dana Beth Walker of East Haven, Connecticut; granddaughters, Anna Jones Marquardt (Sheridan) and Leah Jones-Rodriguez (Aaron) of Oklahoma City, Clarissa Jones of Denver, Colorado, and Allison Duncan of Santa Ana, California; great-granddaughters, Amelia and Sylvia Marquardt and Alice Rodriguez of Oklahoma City; sister-in-law, Karlin Wood; and many beloved nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her parents, Paul and Anna; her siblings, Elizabeth Jane and Robert; her husband, John; brothers-in-law, Robert Lovett and Alexander Walker; sister-in-law, Marion Walker; and nephew, Mark Lovett.

Funeral services will be held May 2, 2026, at 10 a.m. at St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Belfast, Maine. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Margaret's Episcopal Church or Carver Memorial Library in Searsport, Maine.